Concordia Veil - Cabin 3 - Some time later
Amelia stirred and slowly woke up, she had fallen asleep in the same position that she had collapsed onto the bed, like someone who had just suffered an automobile accident. She was wearing the same black shorts and long-sleeved shirt as the other day, and it was a challenge in itself to even change to these clothes considering how tired she had been. The astrogator slowly rose onto a sitting position on her bunk, stretching her arms behind and yawning. Her whole body still ached from the last job, specially her arms after having to hang out from the open airlock like she did. Carefully, she brushed the bedding covering her legs away and moved to sit on the side of the bed, and it took a lot of convincing from herself to move out of it.
The message popped up on Ameila's Data Jockey from Crash. It had been hiding the the ship's vents, far from where any of the rest of the crew could ever hope to get to.
The astrogator groaned upon hearing the beep coming from her datajockey which was on top of the cabin's table, but might as well have been in another planet. That was enough to prompt her to get up, despite that she wanted to get right back into bed once her feet touched the cold metal floor. Amelia grabbed the datapad and rubbed her eyes with the other hand, reading the message.
Crash repeated the message before continuing.
Code:
>And a fighter... and a few new bodies...Though I guess I'm indentured to give it all to the queen of the ship.
Its message was sent and Crash moved closer to the ship's core, it was warm there, and for some reason It had felt the need to stay at an abnormaly high tempature. Amelia, meanwhile, rolled her eyes at the message.
Code:
>It is true, I won it all...
The responce came back as Crash fought to keep the bot chassis from shaking.
Code:
>That's not what I meant.
>This fight between the two of you has to stop, the captain already apologized and told you you were not confined to the computer room and cockpit, and I was there to see it.
Came Amelia's reply.
Code:
>Why else would I give my car up... I like to feel the air blow through my hair too.
>I have ordered new bedding already.
Amelia toggled the Datajockey's screen off and sat back down on the side of the bed, still trying to wake up.
Code:
>Sorry to bother you... I will leave you be.
The Datajockey beeped again as Crash moved even more close to the heating elements that kept the ship from being a flying icechunk. It took Amelia a few moments before she picked it up again and sent a reply.
Code:
>Sorry. I needed someone to talk to, could you come here?
There was no response. Crash was busy debating leaving It's warm spot among the ship's arteries. It took the bot nearly five minutes to decide to leave it and start its long way back to the cabins. Slowly Crash made It's clattering way to where Amelia was. Once It was above her cabin Crash popped though and dropped onto the top bunk. Slowly it peered over the edge of the bed and looked at her upside down.
"You rang?"
"Hey," Ameia said, smiling faintly once she saw the spiderbot, setting the datajockey aside on the bunk bed. "How are you doing?" she asked.
"Cold" As all It said as it crawled over to the underside of the upper bunk then dropped onto It's back and onto Amelia's tummy, making the astrogator slump back down on the bed.
"Ow," Amelia said in a friendly way that disarmed the possibility of the spiderbot dropping on her actually hurting. "It is colder than usual," she agreed, "I didn't know you where bothered by that kind of stuff."
"I'm not... now what is wrong?" Crash raised its front leg to poke her lightly on the cheek. "You said you wanted to talk?"
"I don't know..." Amelia started to say. Once again, even she surprised herself by finding that she was at a loss of words to describe the feeling, and it took her a good few moments to finally figure out. "It's just... I guess I am finally realizing I was even more scared than you were that day," she said. Normally, she wouldn't tell anyone that, but she trusted Crash well enough to tell the spiderbot that.
"Scared when?" Crash asked as It started projecting shapes of stars and planets on the bottom of the upper bunk. "When we were trying to escape that hell?"
"I guess. I think I was just too tired to realize how scary that was, you know?" she asked the spiderbot.
"It was terrifying... I tried to do everything in my power to get you... and the crew out of there... but you guys decided that screwing around on the loading ramps were a good plan." Crash tittered it's mandables as if It was telling a joke. But he was shivering again.
"Well, it's over, and thanks for making me company," Amelia said, resting a hand on top of the spiderbot. She realized for a second how she was acting like a kid all over again, too scared of the dark to stay alone, and needing the company of others. The two of them could hear the sounds of dull footsteps out in the lounge, as well as the sounds of a couple of hatches cycling a few times back-to-back.
"Its over." Crash agreed, then projected an image of a green meadow and a little stream. The trees along the brook swayed a bit in the non-exsisting wind. The astrogator just stared at the projection from the spiderbot. "Do you like any kind of movies?" She idly asked.
"I have seen a few... There was this one I say years ago... It had a Giant Lizard fighting a Giant Ape in a Large city on Yamatai... It was great the city was for the most part leveled." Crash chittered, never grasping at the hint being made.
"Oh," Amelia said. She had heard of that one, despite not really believing that anything that would attack Yamatai wouldn't be instantly destroyed by their huge navy. "I like the noir stuff, you know? Like detective stories on those big places like Funky City. I think they're pretty good."
"do the detectives level parts of the town with Aether breath?" Crash knew the answer and knew It was just being an ass. "I saw a few of those... Though I liked the Live Hard series, you know with Jack Mcblain? Shooting and blowing stuff up for two hours..."
"Oh, I've seen those too- why are you shaking like that?" Amelia asked, noticing that the spiderbot seemed to be shivering.
"I'm cold.... very cold..." Crash spoke a bit childishly. It was very cold and it really bothered Crash that something like that was happening.
"You wanna go someplace else?" Amelia asked, with one arm still holding onto the back of the spiderbot that was on top of her.
"Sure.. But the radiation in the colonies would probably kill you..." Crash responded
A sharp clanking sound startled the pair, followed immediately by the cabin door whooshing open to reveal Sienna standing in the doorway, her hands and forearms streaked with dirty grime, and her teeth clenched as she took a quick inward breath of tense apology. "Shit," she muttered, obviously appearing not to have meant to make so much noise. She looked into the cabin, clearly looking to see if she woke Amelia, and for an instant, the whole situation didn't appear to register in her mind at first, and the same happened with the astrogator, who just kept staring at her. "Sorry, I was just tryin--" she began quietly, but then she suddenly saw the robotic spider lying atop her only partially clothed astrogator and vibrating rigorously. "Ah-- UGH!" she gasped, her face twisting in shock, revulsion, and abject embarrassment. Both of her hands came up to shield her eyes as she turned her head away quickly, stumbling backwards as if she'd just had a powerful search light shone in her face in a pitch black room.
Amelia seemed to also break from the staring trance upon the captain's reaction, looking at the spiderbot on top of her and also realized how awkward the situation must have seemed. Her face flushed bright red as she fought back the embarassment. "This isn't what it looks like! We were just talking!" she exclaimed, sitting back up.
"It's Cold, I know for a fact it doesn't cost you a dime to keep this place at a real liveble tempature..." Crash growled, but didn't move beyond the shivering.
"God, just-- ugh!" Sienna stammered, completely at a loss for words and reeling in disgust. She kept her eyes as far removed from the spectacle as she could without tripping over herself, and reached forward, slapping blindly at the wall panel from the next cabin over until the door whisked closed again, leaving the pair alone once more.
"That was really awkward," Amelia commented.
"It is... The reactor is running at normal levels... yet the ship is freezing and she acts like it'll kill her to heat it." Crash spoke a bit miffed. The projection shifted to one of a campfire.
"Ugh," the astrogator repeated, her face still flushing red. She covered her mouth for a moment, looking back at the closed airlock. "Thanks for talking to me, Crash," she added after a while.
"It's ok, I like being around you." Crash responded as It laid there thinking about movies and Sienna being freaked out. "You suppose she wanted more pics and vids?"
Amelia chuckled at that. "Thanks," she said again, "but you really don't know why she acted like that?"
"Me?"
"Well, uh, sort of. You were kinda, uh..." Amelia started to say, blushing even harder.
"I know, I know, I need to be less rude, but I've been having trouble thinking since you rebooted me.." Crash chittered and wished the projection would heat like a real fire would have.
"Not that- well, I mean, that too, but, you uh, was kinda on top of me, so ,uh... She might have gotten the wrong idea," Amelia blurted out.
"So what... I'm on top of you a lot. All the time even."
The astrogator rolled her eyes and let out a "tch" at the comment. "Do you say that as a joke or are you really kidding all the time?" she asked.
"All the time no... But when it suits me..." Crash slowly flipped over and looked at her in the face. "Was anything going on that shouldn't have, by the regime's laws?"
"No, just... Forget about it, nevermind," Amelia said, pushing back the embarassment of the situation. "I guess I will just bury myself under the sheets here and watch something, since I'm off-duty," she added.
Leaning in closer, Crash brought It's 'eyes' with in inches of Amelia's, "Is there something you're not telling me?" Crash was glad It didn't have a mouth, or It would have been fighting a grin.
"No!" Amelia answered, instantly leaning back and away from the spiderbot.
"You sure?" Crash was going to continue bugging Amelia, but the shivers kicked in again and Its left legs gave out dropping It back down to her chest. "uh...?" It sounded a bit confused. This time, the astrogator visibly tensed at that and placed the spiderbot on the bed next to her, then jumped out of the bunk, getting up.
"Alright, what's the matter with you?" She asked. "You haven't been the same since I had to pull you out of that room."
"I'm cold... I can't think straight... every time I shut off my visual receptors I see my self as one of those damned bots hurting you..." Crash shivered again, "AND I CAN"T FIGURE OUT WHY I"M COLD!!"
"Alright, calm down," the astrogator said, resting her hands on her hips. She was back to being her analytical self by then, and pushed the embarassment back and away from her head. "You might be running with some damaged components, so I suggest that I upload you back to the security bot and take a look at you. How does that sound?" she asked.
"You are too tired...." Crash responded as It settled into a more comfortable spot. "I could leave so you can get some real sleep. You haven't gotten a real night's rest in a few days." The bot studied her from It's spot. It could tell how tired she was from the dark rings around her eyes and the pale complextion.
"I have plenty of time for that. Now set yourself on top of that table," Amelia said, crossing her arms in front of her chest. She was already too annoyed at others being worried about her.
Crash eyed her for a few moments before slowly and carefuly moving to the table. It took a few moments for Crash to upload fully from the spaider bot and emerge from the storage closet at the Guard bot. "A little better i'm not cold any more at least." the bot spoke in its mildly grating voice. The astrogator moved to sit next to the small table, drawing the metal chair back and setting her datajockey next to it.
The table was otherwise barren, save for a charging ports for the electronics, and a small, fluorescent lamp, which she turned on. The lamp cast a small island of light on the penumbra of the cabin. The astrogator reached for something inside one of the drawers, and pulled out a medium-sized black pouch, setting it next to the spiderbot. "You really feel hotter than usual, geez," she commented once she reached for the deactivated bot, pulling out the tools that she needed to unlock the top cover of the mechanic body.
The Guard bot stood next to the table, as if on sentry duty. It was a basic setting in the lower quality bot. "No I was very cold." The bot now didn't have a thermometer or any way to gauge the spiderbot's tempature. Meanwhile, Amelia continued with her work, unscrewing the top cover out and gently setting it aside the deactivated bot. She continued to dismantle the cat-sized robot, taking out the cooling fans that were right under the cover and setting those next to the other disassembled components.
"That's exactly why. The temperature is higher than usual, so you would feel cold," She said, '
just like a person.' The astrogator kept 'digging', taking her a good ten minutes until she reached what she was looking for, the spiderbot's processors. The small black rectangle in the middle of all the boards and microchips that was the spiderbot's central processor. The area around it was darkened from when Crash had overclocked the processor so that he could fly the ship and man the weapons at the same time, and the thermal paste that would have helped the bot to deal with that problem had turned into a dry crust.
"So this is why," Amelia commented. "I guess that the lesson is to never buy anything in Black Moon," she said, glancing briefly at the guard bot and pointing with the tip of a small screwdriver towards the edges of the processor. "The coolant paste he used was bad quality, so when it got too hot inside it solidified, which is in turn makes you overheat and feel cold all the time," she explained.
"And to think we spent money there..." Crash growled a little. It was trying to think if there was any extra paste somewhere, but in some ways this body was worst then the damaged spiderbot had been. "What can we do about it? Besides opening the computer core and scraping it from the main processors there..."
"Well, until we get to Dawn so you can get your hand on that coolant, I will just have to use my own stuff, so take it easy with all the data processing you're doing," Amelia said, fishing for something inside the bag.
"I have a large supply of liquid nitrogen we can use to build a cooling system for when I plug in to the ship..." The Guard spoke as It watched her save the Spiderbot, scraping away the crust caused by the thermal paste with the flathead screwdiver.
Once the task was done, Amelia pulled a small plastic container from inside the bag, it had a silvery substance inside. Next, she drew a small syringe from it. "This is meant to cool down small-time things like the Datajockey, so don't strain yourself, alright?" she said, drawing a small quantity of the silvery goop and injecting it on the processor. She used the business end of the syringe to spread it around evenly on the metallic surface.
"Yes Ma'am." The bot spoke it it's programed voice. "No doing a lot until I get better goop." The voice changed back to one that Crash normaly used in this body, "i'll have to transfer more of my mind into the Ship's core when I fly then."
"What do you mean?" Amelia asked curiously, while still assembling back the spiderbot.
"I ws running all of the processes for flying and fighing the ship through the spiderbot..." Crash spoke realized now how stupid that was.
"Once you get that liquid nitrogen you won't have to. You're fine this way," She replied, smiling faintly.
The bot nodded, "I'm sorry I have caused you nothing but problems since you found me... well even before that." Crash spoke quietly, strange sounding from this body. "You've done nothing but try to help..."
The astrogator stopped screwing the cover panel back on and turned to stare at Crash. "Hey, come on, you saved everyone's lives more than once, and you're great company too," she said, quickly adding the last part.
"if you say so." the bot spoke not entirly convinced. Though the statment did seem to quiet It down a bit.
"Oh, come on, Crash," Amelia complained, turning back around and finishing the repairs on the bot. "Are you always gonna be sulking like that?"
"All the time no... But when it suits me..." This repitition was followed by a bitty sound that could only be mistaken for laughter.
"Very funny," Amelia said sarcastically, drawing the chair back and getting up again. "Anyway, I have fixed the issues, you should be good for now," she added.
"Oh good." The Guard bot turned and went back into its storage place. There was a loud clatter when It left the bot and it fell. After a few moments the spider bot moved. It took almost a full minute before the Spider bot was able to stand and turn to look at Amelia. "Thank you... It is a bit better now... Less cold."
The astrogator waved the compliment dismissively, drawing the chair back under the table. "I think I'm heading back to bed, there's no way I'm going out after what happened earlier," she admitted, thinking again of the awkward situation.
"Did I miss something? I was hiding near the ship's core heating unit for quite some time." Crash asked from the edge of the table.
"No, nevermind," Amelia said, giving up on the matter. Her cheeks puffed as she exhaled slowly while moving to sit back on the side of the bed.
"But I want to know..." the voice sounded of a obnoixios little girl. "I WANNNA KNOW!!!" Crash said again a little louder, as It bounced about the table.
"I know this is another one of your pranks," the astrogator said, frowning, but still embarassed. She had to fight between being indignated by the spiderbot, or pushing the embarassment back.
"It isn't, I'm not sure why you are embarassed by Sienna being snoopy and busting in here, When you were trying to keep me warm." Crash nodded and tested It's volumetric projectors, and light up pink. Crash chittered at the color it was projecting and bounced around more, happy not to be cold.
"Right," Amelia said, scratching her head as she watched the spiderbot test its systems.
Crash paused and looked at Amelia, tilting Its whole head to the side like one would tip their head when confused. "I think you're trying to pull something over me... but I can't place it..." Crash dropped to the floor with a thud, then came slowly up to her feet. With it's front foot It poked her leg as it started flashing rainbow colors down it's sides, making the astrogator jerk the limb involuntarily.
"Please tell me?"
"If you don't get it, then there's no reason telling you why," she stated back. Amelia was sure it was just another prank from him.
The colors flashed a red before it faded through purple to blue. "Fine... but I'm not a child, I just don't get all your fleshy problems..." Crash sounded honestly hurt. The bot crawled under the bunk and teh blue glow from It shined out from the edges.
The astrogator didn't relent. Instead, she lay back down and pulled the sheets back up, covering herself. Her limbs still felt like lead, and there wasn't much that she would rather do than sleep.
After a few minutes of grumbling and the feeling of crash roaming about under the mattress, It popped up from between the bunk and the wall. "You want me to stay?" it asked in a seriously timid voice, as if Crash was nervious or somthing. It didn't want to say that It wanted to snooze next to her.
You know if case there is another fault or something... yeah that's it. Crash was failing even lying to Itself.
Amelia pondered over the question for a few moments. "Sure," she said after some intentional deliberation, "You're gonna stay down there like the boogey man?" She asked.
"Can I?" Crash sounded honestly amused and interested at the prospect... "Do I get a pay raise, if I do?"
"I hope not," Amelia said, briefly remembering the moment where she was hanging by her fingers from turning into confetti.
"Ok... Hmm..." Crash though as It climbed up onto the bed. "Though I guess that I would have to interview with the Captain... Think I should call her in again to apologize again?" Crash pulled it's legs under itself as it settled in next to Amelia.
"Just... Don't piss her off or anything," the astrogator said, closing her eyes. Sharing the bed like that was somewhat awkward, but the company was welcome after what she had gone through in the past days, and Amelia slowly let the tension ebb away from her mucles to feel relaxed.
"Wasn't planning on it..." It chittered and rested it's head on her leg. "She's got enough on her plate... I think the other Freespacer might be plotting to eat everyone."
There was no reply, it was easy to see that Amelia was already sleeping soundly.
"Well fine you fall asleep on me and crap." Crash growled a bit scooted closer and then relaxed, starting to surt the interwebs.
~~~~~
Hours, and about 300 gb of porn later.
Amelia slowly stirred where she lay, stretching her arms to her sides and arching her back as she woke up. She didn't notice that she was slowly pushing the spiderbot away from the bed either.
With a loud thunk Crash crashed to the floor. Coming out of his digital medatation, (also known as surfing the nets) It looked up on the bed to see the Astrogator shifting about, "You could have asked if I was in your way..."
"Hm, what?" Amelia asked, still half asleep until, at last, she seemed to remember where she was. With a jolt, the astrogator opened her eyes wide and looked around the semi-dark room. "Crash?" She asked.
"Yes..." The spider bot shifted about and started crawling back onto the bed. "What can I do for you on this late evening?"
"Oh," She started to say, half getting up and supporting herself on an elbow as she watched the spiderbot. "Sorry," Amelia said, still trying to shake off the aftermath of sleep from her head.
"Its fine, and here I was worrying about knocking you out of bed this whole time." The lights down Its sides and back flittered in a little pattern, "So what caused you to wake?"
The astrogator chuckeld at the bot's initial comment. "Just woke up. I don't think I've slept this well in a long time," she commented.
"Well I'm sorry, I'll try to keep you from falling asleep so deeply." He started stepping on her gently but firmly. " Now you won't worry about it."
"Crash!" Amelia exclaimed, rolling to the side so that the spiderbot was no longer on top of her. "I didn't say it was a bad thing," she explained.
Flopping over on to It's back, Crash looked up at her. "I see... So no dancing on you in the night... Well poo..." The lights flickered again and the mandables chittered. "Well I'm pleased you slept well."
"Thanks," she said, smiling softly and staring at the length of the spiderbot. Normally, she would be pretty scared of spiders, especially considering what had gone through on the last job, but not so with Crash. She felt strangely at ease near the spiderbot. "You were awake this whole time?" she asked.
"Sort of... You wanna see what I've been doing?" Crash asked with a bit of mischief in it's voice.
"I don't know, what were you doing?" She asked, noticing the mischief on the spiderbot's voice. She wondered for a moment how he could keep up with such a vast quantity of those... "hobbies" of his.
"Well I was surched the nets for new porn, it's a hobby, then there was the fact I was looking around the digital map of Dawn station. Looking for the best places to visit. Did you know they had a spa there? With locker rooms that don't have real security?!" The Bot chittered there for a moment.
"And people don't just steal things from there?" She asked. How curious of those Yamataians, naive even.
"Along with that I was playing a role playing game with a person on Nepleslia and I was going over the storage rates for my stuff that is awaiting us at Dawn station." the bot paused for a moment. "There was alsoa bit of data i found in the Yammy military data base about the captain, and there was the bit of time I was sitting here counting bolts in the room. All fairly boring things."
"Well, I guess not sleeping has its disadvantages then," she commented.
"Well Yeah. I guess it does. Though at least I am still able to do these things. The captain hasn't taken away my net priveleges."
"Man, that would be like keeping your kids from accessing the interNEP," she mused, chuckling at that. It was easy to speak her mind like that next to the freespacer.
"Yeah.. my kids...." Crash fell silent for a few moments. After the pause It kicked up a screen that was showing hundreads of images of porn that It had been surfing through.
"Oh, damn it, Crash!" Amelia said, looking away from the mosaic of imagery that the spiderbot had projected against the cabin's wall. "Turn that off," she demanded.
"Fiiinnneee." it had done it's job, so Crash killed the screen, "What would you like to see a movie or something?"
The astrogator's eyes perked up at that. "Yeah, did you have something in mind?" She asked, thinking about how she had initially planned to do that but had instead succumbed to sleep.
"Not really but I can rip what ever you would like from the nets." Crash thought for a bit about what movies It had seem in the past, most though would be classics by now.
"Oh man, there was this detective movie I've really wanted to see..." She started to say.
"Oh? what is it called?" Crash was already scanning through the archives of detective movies. Though he wasn't sure which one she would like to watch.
"Man, It was on the tip of my tongue, you even talked about it earlier," she started to say, trying to remember the name.
"The only movie that was close to a detective movie was the Live Hard movie..." It thought for a few trying to think if there were any others.
Amelia snapped her fingers, suddenly remembering what she was trying to. "Got it! It was called Funky City Confidential!" she said, grinning at remembering the name that had been on the tip of her tongue.
"Ah yes, right. Give me a minute" Crash sat there asn started downloading th emovie, both to It's internal database, and to Amelia's Datajockey. "There we go."
"That was fast," the astrogator commented.
A new volumetric screen popped up before her with the movie starting with it's opening credits, making Amelia rearrange herself on the bed, staring at the projected screen and supporting her head with the ball of both her hands, crossing her feet behind her.
Crash climbed onto her back and relaxed Its legs under itself. Settling in, Crash quietly studied the film being projected. Crash had never really watched a detective flick before so this was going to be something new, while Amelia watched it intently, periodically swinging her legs as she watched the movie.
~~
One Detictive movie later
~~
With the end credits rolling, Crash allowed itself to fall of of the Astrologer's back and onto the bed. "Was it what you expected?"
"Oh, I liked it," Amelia admitted, but paused to think more of what to say next. "Though, the ending was kind of a let down," she added. Being a fan of the genre, she had really seen better movies than that, but it was by no means a bad one. It wasn't a good one either, but it had been good to kill the time.
"Yeah? I thought the detective should have shot the lady when she first came into his office... would have solved a lot of his problems right there..." Crash laughed his chittery laugh.
"Maybe, but what would be the fun in that? A detective is someone who sees a mystery and wants to see it through until it's solved, not take the easy way out like that," Amelia said, looking at the spiderbot. " That's why he acted like such a dick in the movie, after seeing all that stuff that he did, it kinda turned him numb to most of the things," she explained.
"I see. She still should have been shot... She was obnoixus and caused half the situations..." Crash would have frowned, that is if It had a mouth. "I know if she would have come into my office I would not have taking her commission, and I turned down a lot of those back when I was in the biz..."
"The biz?" Amelia asked, curious.
"I told you what I used to do, I would take contracts for diffrent pictures or videos that collectors wanted. Some where just rare and hard to find, others on private databases, Some required me hireing film crews, and break-in artists..."
"Oh," she answered. She had somehow forgotten about that. The astrogator opened her mouth again to speak, but closed it, seemingly at a loss of words.
"Why do you think i have so many images and vids to share..." Crash craswled up so it's eyes were close to her face, and whispered, "I can get you any thing you'd like... anything..." the last words was in a very conspiratorialtone.
Amelia leaned away from the bot. "No, I'm fine, thanks," she said, suddenly remembered the images that he had sent to her datajockey some time before. She wouldn't be caught off-guard like that again.
Dropping back down to the bed Crash looked up at her. "The offer is on the table. And I got plenty of free time when you all meat sacks are sleeping." Crash started thinking,
'maybe i should get a good data dump made up for the captain, that might make her happier.'
"Well, you already know my answer. I'm not a pervert," Amelia said, looking away from the spiderbot.
"I never accused you of being such... honestly it is heathy to experience things like this and not repress it." Teh bot nodded its head as it continued. "If it wasn't would there be things out there with some of the galactic royalty? MMMM??"
"Maybe, I don't know," the astrogator said. "I don't look at those things, and I'm fine," she added.
"Well to each their own... Though it makes me wonder what you do to...um... you know..." Crash started glowing bright pink.
"To what!?" Amelia asked, somewhat distressed.
If crash had a foot, and a real mouth they probably be trying to see how far the foot could get in the mouth... "Um... Never mind... I uuu... So how about this weather..."
"Fine, I guess," the astrogator said, pulling out her datajockey and lying on her back against the bed.
Crash sat there stareing at her trying to figure out a way to ask, and if It should even ask. For once since waking up Crash was feeling like there was a line that one should not cross, you know besides killing the living beings on the ship. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry about what? You didn't do anything," Amelia said, lowering the datapad to stare at the spiderbot.
"I uhh... Well shit..." Crash was now glosing almost dark pink... if that was a real color and not red. "Just accept i'm sorry and please... don't ask why." Crash was truly embarrassed over the situation. hell he had asked that question thousands of times before, why was this time diffrent?
That was her turn to smile. Amelia chuckled at being able to turn that conversation around at the freespacer, it had made her somewhat used to what would've otherwise been embarassing situations. "Relax, I'm just messing with you," she said, smiling.
"So you knew what I was asking and you have been being mean about it?" Crash asked a bit incredgulisly.
"Well, Crash, that's because it's something you don't ask people about," she explained. "It's a private matter," she added.
"And why is that! Why should it be a private matter... It's a fact of life..." Crash asked trying not not be on the defense.
"Because it is!" the astrogator exclaimed. "Gosh.."
"But why... I would tell you..." Crash nodded again. "You wanna know?" But she didn't answer, and instead kept staring at him.
"it involves some engine lubricant, a power drill, six egg batters, and a lamp post. it is very difficult."
"No, nevermind! I don't wanna know," Amelia said, raising the datapad again and trying to seem like she was actually looking at its screen.
"You sure... I could be classified as a class 3 war crime in some areas of space." Crash was fighting the urge to laugh now. It was just trying to get under her skin again.
"Yes, I'm sure," she stated.
"Well then I'll just record it next time, and when you are ready I'll show you." Crash fell over onto its back and started wiggling it's legs in the air. "I'm more interesting then watching a black screen..."
"How do you know that?" Amelia asked. How had he figured out the Datajockey was off?
"Simple detictivery, your face isn't lit up by the screen... with the half light in the room, that screen should be lighting your face up like it was a spot lamp." Crash chittered.
"Oh, good work, detective, guess I'm guilty as charged," Amelia said jokingly, lowering the datapad and looking back at the bot, a small smirk forming on the corner of her mouth.
"That and I have a link with that datajockey, so when I can see it or can't get a ping back from it, It would be off, or disconnected from the nets." Crash chittered again and poked her with a leg. "Or Magic!."
"Well, the point is, you don't ask around people those kinds of questions," she said. "Unless you're one of those Yamataian freaks," she added.
"But I was trying to get to know you..." Crash said as it continued playing with the little figer claws at the end of Its legs. "It was just a simple question. Specaily for one who used to deal with that day in and day out."
The astrogator sighed. It seemed that Crash wouldn't leave her alone on that subject until she told him what he wanted to know. "Alright," she started to say, her cheeks already starting to flush, although there was still a slight expression of mischief on her face, and she told him.
"Ewww... But that's all wet and mushy" Crash said freezing, never in It's years did Crash think she woudl tell him. "Why.. why would you tell me that!!!"
"You wouldn't leave me alone!" Amelia said, trying not to pout. "And you said it was no big deal," she added, looking somewhat betrayed.
"Well It isn't, but I really never thought you would tell me, so i was bugging you.. like trying to get you to give me everything you own." Crash was panicky, It didn't want to offend her, noe did It ever want to betray her.... It's mischief and games finally back fired.
"Well, maybe I was joking," Amelia suggested with a coy smile.
"Were you? I mean I don't think we have those things on the ship..." Crash asked thinking.
"Oh, I don't know anymore," the astrogator said, suddenly balling her hands into fists and checking her nails.
"You mean you brought those items aboard? Do you keep them secure? Cause if I even bump into one.. It'll short me out..." Crash joints locked up in worry."
"I was just joking, by the way. I'm not into those things," Amelia said, looking back at the spiderbot.
"Were you? Are you sure..." Crash asked thinking this all through... It would explain her reluctince to tell It about what she does, but then again it seemed a bit extreme, creepy Lorath and their tastes...
"Yes, Crash," she answered, staring at the spiderbot dead in what could only be its optical units.
"Well then..." Crash about to ask again, but caught Itself. "What are we going to do when we hit port? Are you going to go to one of those spas?"
"What? No, maybe, I don't know if I should," Amelia said. She had never bothered with that kind of stuff, and saw it like some unnecessary expenditure in most cases.
"Why not? I think you'd look cute in those skimpy swim clothes you all like instead of being free and naked in waters..." Crash retored as It thought about diffrent activities there were for hIt.
"Ew," was all that Amelia answered.
"What being nude is great... Look at me... I don't wear clothes, not one bit." The bot Chittered and waved it's legs about showing off the nudeness of the metal body.
"Ugh," Amelia said, rubbing her forehead with one of her hands.
"What, you never noticed?"
"That is a silly comparison."
"How so?"
"Because," Amelia started to say, throwing her arms around, "I'm a
fleshly, and you actually do wear your own kind of clothes all time time. You don't walk around with your components bare for everyone to see, do you?" she asked.
"No but you don't walk about with your guts hanging out." Crash chittered, "But that is besides the point. You need a skimpy swim suit and a trip to the spa..." The bot glowed a bit blue and started playing with it's feet again.
"I'm most definitely not doing either of those," she said.
"Why Not!!! I'll even pay for you to have a nice relaxing day... I doubt it'll be worst then hanging out with me all day long. Expecaly with what I've got planned for part of the day."
"Why, what did you have planned?" She asked, once again looking genuinely hurt. She liked hanging out with him.
"Well I have to go and check on the stuff I have... Then I need to go and buy some crap, like bedding for her highnyess. Then there is the trip to what ever spas you're not at, got to steal all the panties and bring them back aboard. Then there is lunch. A quick bite of power from the stations power grid. Then I thought I'd go shopping for a present." Crash counted the list off on It's legs. "then I figured we could do something in the evenning."
"You've got it all planned out, huh?" She asked, dropping her back down on the bed. "And who's the lucky person who's getting a present?" She asked.
"None of your business... I might have met some one and I wanted to flirt with them.. and a good present is always a good way to start. Right?" Crash asked thinking things through.
"Oh, alright then," Amelia said, dismissing the thought. The point passed through her like the ship passed through space at FTL speeds. "If you need me to buy it like last time, just ask," she added.
"I'll be trading some of my holdings for it, so my cash can stay safe with you." The bot went back to playing with it's feet in the sai, "What do you think I should get? I've never bought anything like this before."
Not wanting to push the subject of how she didn't think she should be keeping his money, Amelia decided to go after the inquiry. "I don't know, just... I'm pretty bad at giving gifts to other people myself, it's just one of those things that when you see it you go 'Oh, I bet they are gonna like that!' Kind of thing, you know?" she asked, making a deeper voice when she mimicked whoever it was.
"Well that is silly." Crash gumped as It thought things through hopeing to come up with a really good gift. "Last time I tried that the captain yelled at me for sending obscene data to her personal computer."
Amelia squinted her eyes shit, rubbing the bridge of her nose. That was funny and frustrating in equal parts. "It has also to be something that doesn't embarass them, Crash..."
"Well? Then how will I know it won't embarass them? Honsetly... HOW?" Crash pointed It's forward leg at her as if to make a point.
"Well, just try to put yourself on their place. See what they like doing and come up with something from that," she said, smiling faintly at his display.
"But all I know it that they like being fleshy and smelly all the time." Crash chittered and flittered it's claws about in the air. "Yep."
Amelia shrugged, raising the palm of her hands to the air in a 'whelp, what can you do,' expression before lying back down on the bed.
"Well... what would you want?" Crash tried a diffrent tactic. It was being relentless about it, but Crash wanted to make sure what It got was something that would be nice.
"Me? Why?" Amelia asked.
"What would you like, If someone got you a gift? Did I switch language protocals again?" Crash grew silent as It checked to see what language it was using.
"Oh man, I don't know. I think it would be the thought that counted more than the gift itself, but it wouldn't help if it was something I would be using a lot too," she admitted, nodding at that.
"Those are just attributes, not names." Crash nodded before flipping over and crawling up the wall to the bottom of the upper bunk and looking at her from upside down. "So, fleshies like upgrades?"
"Upgrades? Like cybernetics?" She asked.
"Yeash... I would love it if I was one of you, to get less fleshy bits installed. Oh I can remember my first upgrade, It was a left arm, the replacement had a can opener and a nail file accessory."
"Well, some people just like being... You know, them, as in the
original them," Amelia said, shrugging.
"Then if you don't want an upgrade, what does an Astrogator want?" Crash hung there by the four center most feet the other four legs were splayed out below.
"Well, I already have this," Amelia said, reaching inside her sweater with her hands. She pulled out a burned out fuse, carefully tied by a reinforced string of a thin rope.
Crash saw the fuse, It had given it to her as a silly thank-you gift. Its grip on the upper bunk failed and Crash silently fell back to the bed looking at the necklace.
"Crash, you're doing it again," The astrogator commented.
"Doing what?" It answered slowly trying to think through the large data dump that raced through its ram and processor, all trying to get in there first.
"Dropping down on people like that," she explained, staring at the spdierbot.
"Sorry..." the voice was drawn out as if the sound card was trying to process a lot too. "I must have lot my grip. my apologies"
"Alright," Amelia said, then looked around the dimly-lit room.
Crash rolled off of Ameila onto the floor. Silent It sat there thinking, for a few moments, until the silence was just too inconspicuous for Amelia to ignore it.
"Why are you so quiet all of sudden?" She asked it, perking her head up from the bed to look at the spiderbot.
"Thinking... Why are you?"
"Dunno," she admitted, laying back down against her bunk and this time turning on the screen of her datajockey.
"It's on now..." Crash said thinking though a lot of stuff. It hated when It got interspective, things explode when Crash got this way.
"Yep," she confirmed.
As Crash silently sat there trying to work everything out, Images started flashing on Amelia's Datajockey. First images of her and the fuse, then others, including their walk on the moon, and the silly drawing in the airlock. Her expression visibly softened at that, prompting her to lower the datajockey and stare at the Freespacer, the same faint smile on her face.
The images continued and started showing what Crash had dreamt as It was over heating, the images of him, and all of the spiderdrones that looked like him, attacking her... Crash finaly spoke up, and loudly. "This is stupid! You're stupid... This Ship is stupid!" Crash stood up and started up the wall not paying attention, It was a totally wrong wall for any kind of egress. The astrogator's expression twisted into one of someone who had just been hurt, but not at the spiderbot, had she not talked to him after she pulled him out of the computer room. Living through those images, like he had said he had, certainly wasn't something easy, and it seemed to her that he was living that all over again.
"Crash!" She exclaimed, trying to get his attention.
"What?" Crash looked over at her, and lost grip of the ceiling beam. Again Crash crashed into the floor and flipped over. "Meant to do that..." The spiderbot even seemed embarased that It fell.
"You're drifting again," she explained, choosing not to mention the images on her datapad.
"Drifting? No. Falling... You have your world to meaning scripts running alright?" Crash asked looking at her a bit dubiously.
"No," she admitted, looking guilty.
"Hmmm... Do I need to open your head and rummage about in there?" Crash sounded a bit evil when the words came out. The Bot started moving back towards the bed to climb up there towards her head.
"Noo!" She said, giggling when she felt the tiny end of the spiderbot's appendages tickle her head. That was something that it had taken some time to getting used to.
"Then a good kick to the side?" Crash chittered before crawling back down to her lap. Curling Its legs under it's body, Crash started thinking again.'
"Nah," she said, bringing the Datajockey up again. She quickly closed the latest images, but actually saved the good, meaningful ones from their trip onto the device's Hard Drive. She didn't have the habit of taking pictures of stuff like that, thining that they deserved more to be committed to memory rather than image, but those pictures were quite pleasant to look at.
"Well then I am out of repair suggestions, unless you want to talk to that
other freespacer... Though I think there might be a few bolts loose in her head..."
"Six Four means well," Amelia said, staring at the spiderbot. "Just like our captain. You should give them a chance, you know, instead of pissing them off with your taunting," she added, more serious then.
"I haven't taunted the Six Four unit, that would be beneath me." Crash said, thinking the change of subject was nice reprieve.
"You know who I meant," she answered.
"Yeah well she is worth the effort." Crash responded, "Plus it'll just make it all the better when I turn over my new leaf and become the happy bubble spiderbot you all want." Crash chittered and thought of those stupid cartoons all kids watch.
"Whatever," Amelia said, giving up once again on the subject. She simply contended herself to picking up again the book she had been reading through, another Noir novel.
"Well if I started to be all nice to her, she'll not treat me or you any diffrently." Crash shrugged with its four legs. "She'll treat us like she treats that old man, her old friend. Seems like this way I can have fun while being growled at."
"She is actually treating me way better than before on that day," Ameia interjected. "It's like she finally realized that she can't bully people into compliance," she added.
"Well that is good. I guess" Crash shifted a little, balancing the weight evenly. "I think Six four drugged her... that's all."
"I wouldn't be surprised."
Crash sat there silently as she read her book, not knowing what the bot was truly thinking. The biggest item on It's mind was the issue of what did Amelia really meant to Crash. On one hand she was a good friend, on the other she was flesh and blood, and would reject the bot for not being the same. The dilema out weighed the issue of the silly Captain and her need for a totaliary dictatorship. Crash kept going over why she was the one that was attacked in the heat dreams, and why It kept so close to her.
